Mom
by Master-Magician
Summary: Piper may not have thought much about being a mother before this, but somehow she knew this was at least partially what it was like to have children. And it was something Piper felt she could get used to.


**One of my reviewers wanted to see more of Nat so this kinda started from that but went a bit further. I assume Nat is about 11 or 12 years old, Shaun I think is around the same. Yes there are spoilers for a choice at the end of the game but if you haven't beaten it yet, you shouldn't be on here.**

 **Enjoy.**

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"Bye sis!" Piper barely had time to look up from her terminal before Nat came running up to give her a one arm hug. It lasted a whole half a second before the little girl was dashing out of the house.

It was Nat's own fault. The girl always dragged her heels when it came to school. Whether it was working on homework or just being on time. She was going to put off anything school related for as long as possible, consequences be damned.

Nowadays, Nat's heel dragging had spread to the newest resident of their house. It wasn't Shaun's fault, it really wasn't. But he was extremely shy, and didn't like going out by himself anywhere. As a result, he had taken to following Nat's lead in most things when outside the house. Thankfully, Nat had inducted him as her partner in crime.

Whether Piper should be terrified of that thought or not she hadn't decided.

"Bye mom." Piper was forcibly snatched from her thoughts by two words and a firm yet gentle hug from an also swiftly departing Shaun.

The embrace was nothing new, when he was first brought back from the Institute it had been Piper who looked after him for a bit while Nathaniel dealt with some of the aftershocks of the group's defeat. The moment Nathaniel told him Piper was going to look out for him until he got back, the boy held on to her for hours while waiting for his 'dad' to return.

Shaun was a good kid, if a tad naive, Piper had noticed that almost instantly. He couldn't be faulted for that, the only memories he had were on living within the Institute while waiting to be rescued. He had never encountered things like raiders, super mutants, or even a radroach. Being cut off from the world kinda did that.

Even after the kids had left, Piper was frozen to the spot staring at her terminal. All thoughts of working on the paper completely disintegrated by two three letter words.

With their own mother gone, the closest thing Nat had to a mom was Piper herself. But Nat had been just old enough to know that her mother figure was in fact her older sister. It was always 'sis' or 'sister' from Nat. Not once in their years together had Nat ever had a slip of the tongue and called her mom. It certainly wouldn't have been a shocker if she did, but Piper always did say Nat was smarter than many thought.

To be called mom was more than a little... Piper didn't know how it made her feel. Shocked? Scared? Disturbed? She was unable to find the word for it.

During Piper's younger years, her entire focus was Nat. Making sure her sister had decent clothes, made sure she ate halfway right. All the kinds of things a mother would do for her child, Piper did for Nat. But she never felt like a mom. Even when some people at first mistook Nat for being her daughter.

Before Nathaniel came along, romance was something she always gave no second thought to. With so much focus on making ends meet for Nat's sake, there wasn't time for someone else. She never went looking, and turned down those few who offered. Until she got a reputation as being "that nosy reporter", after that everyone gave her a wide berth.

Then along came Nathaniel.

To this day, Piper wasn't sure how that happened. When she offered to watch his back in the wasteland in exchange for an interview, she was sure he was going to turn her offer down. Hopefully not until after the aforementioned interview but to her shock, he not only accepted, but was happy to have her for company.

Piper meant it when she said they didn't make them like they used to. No one was that selfless, with that big a heart. Men like that died out two hundred years ago. It should have come as no surprise Piper would fall in love with him. Even Nat of all people liked him! And that girl was infamously hard to approach.

Even after she and Nathaniel had gotten closer, the thought of children was never something Piper considered. Not until Shaun came along.

Now that she thought about it, this wasn't the first time he called her mom. The first time came a week after the fall of the Institute. Shaun had been brought back to the house in Diamond City that Nathaniel, Piper, and Nat all shared.

The new place was definitely an upgrade over the tiny apartment they used to live beside the Publick Occurrences office. When Nathaniel bought the house, using only his own caps, he defended the decision with the words "I wanted a safe place I could go to for peace and quiet". Technically Piper and Nat weren't supposed to live there. They just sort of... moved in when Nathaniel wasn't looking. Piper figured that was what Nathaniel was expecting, seeing as how not only was a room for Nat already prepared, Nathaniel's own room and bed were a little large for one person but perfect for two.

Naturally, it was here Shaun was brought home to. The boy may be a bit naive, but he was not blind. It was obvious from day one that Piper was his dad's girlfriend. Nat would say it was the "goo goo eyes they made at each other when they thought people weren't looking".

One day he had just started calling her mom, but it was only today that Piper actually noticed it. The odd part was that Nat had made no mention of it. Something like that she would undoubtedly tease her older sister about but the little girl was surprisingly quiet about it. The only thing Piper could think of was that Shaun had asked Nat about his dad and Piper, but that didn't explain why Nat hadn't said something.

Piper just shrugged it off as something she'd probably never know.

"Oh for crying out loud." Piper groaned and let her head bang down on the desk. Even long after the kids were gone, she'd yet to get any work done on the latest issue of the paper. Maybe it was time to take a break...

Said break came in the form of the front door behind her opening. When Piper turned around in her chair to see, she found an exhausted Nathaniel trudging into the house. Piper caught sight of him for only a few seconds before he flopped down on the couch out of sight.

"You okay Blue?" Piper craned her neck up to try to see around the back of the couch but she had no luck.

"Peachy." The weary response came with a weak thumbs up from the opposite side of the couch. Piper couldn't help but roll her eyes at the gesture. "Hey Piper?"

"Yeah?"

"Next time Nick wants to do a case after dark, remind me synths don't need sleep." The words were punctuated with a loud yawn that Piper totally didn't find at all adorable. No sir, not at all.

"Oh poor baby." Piper smirked as she rose to her feet to walk around the side of the couch. Nathaniel lay sprawled out on the old piece of furniture with his eyes closed, but Piper knew he wasn't actually asleep, at least not yet.

Leaning over him so that they were upside down to each other, Piper pressed a soft kiss to his lips. Just like she knew he'd do, Nathaniel reached a hand up to tangle in her brunette locks to deepen the kiss. Smiling into the contact, Piper cupped his jaw in her hand.

"Maybe I should be out all night more often if I get this kind of welcome." Nathaniel wore a smirk of his own when the two had to part for air. Piper answered by swatting him on the chest but gave him another peck on the lips anyway.

Ever since they took down the Institute, Nathaniel had almost become a full time detective in Valentine's Detective Agency. According to the synth detective, it was thanks to Nathaniel's help that he was actually starting to put a dent in all of his backlogged cases.

While there was no shortage of work to be found for those skilled with their guns like Nathaniel, the man wanted something a little safer now that he had a family to look after. Nick's work could sometimes get dangerous, but usually it went without incident.

Piper herself had returned to working on the paper full time like she did before meeting Nathaniel. Only downside to the Institute being destroyed, there was a profound lack of interesting stories to publish, even more so now that Nathaniel stuck to working for Nick instead of roaming the Commonwealth.

As far as Piper was concerned, it was totally worth it.

"Well why don't you take a nap while I get back to work." Piper thought a second too late that turning her back on Nathaniel was probably a bad idea.

Letting out an unladylike squeal in the process, Piper was grabbed by her hips and pulled back toward the couch to land right on top of Nathaniel.

"Really Blue? Really?" Resigning herself to her current fate, Piper moved so that she could comfortably lay atop Nathaniel, her head resting in the crook of his neck.

"What?" Nathaniel shrugged with a warm smile. "We all know I'm your favorite pillow."

"Shh, pillows don't talk." Piper relaxed even more so when she felt her boyfriend's fingers start running through her hair. She had discovered a few things the first night they shared a bed. The first being Piper was naturally a cuddler while she slept, even when she didn't realize it. The second being Nathaniel would run his fingers through her hair without thinking. Piper would never complain, she actually loved it. Having not had someone actually hold her like Nathaniel did before, Piper never knew what she was missing Nathaniel.

So when he stopped, Piper's head shot up. "If you don't keep going, I'm making you sleep on the couch tonight." Piper's eyes narrowed almost dangerously. It was both her greatest, and most effective, threat.

"Yes ma'am." Nathaniel gave a small salute before he returned to his ministrations. Laying her head back down, Piper let out a soft hum of contentment. She loved moments like this, just her and her Blue enjoying the peace and quiet in each other's company. Piper could stay like this forever.

But this was the Commonwealth, moments like these don't last long.

A soft knock came from the front door. Piper could tell by the mechanical repetition of the sounds just who it was. It wasn't the first time she'd had this particular visitor.

"Not fair." Piper whined, burying her nose into Nathaniel's neck as if to hide. "I just got comfy."

Nathaniel laughed, his hand slowly tracing the curve of Piper's hip through her thin shirt. "Sorry, continue once you tell them to go away?"

"No." Piper groaned as she stood back up. "We're going to need to be up now."

"Really? Why?"

"Good afternoon Miss Edna." Piper greeted the white painted miss nanny robot at the door. Nat and Shaun standing right behind her. The former with her arms folded and looking grumpy, the latter staring at the ground with obvious guilt about something. "What did she do this time?"

Best get it over with. This was far from the first time Piper had received a visit from the assistant teacher of the school. The only question was what Nat had...

"Actually Miss Wright, Nat didn't do anything." Uh oh, if it wasn't Nat then that meant Shaun did something. That in of itself was a little weird, the boy was the perfect model of a good kid. Having the same heart and conscience his father did.

"What happened?" Nathaniel had appeared over Piper's shoulder, all previous fatigue long gone.

"As I understand, there was a minor altercation between your boy and one of the other students." Miss Edna explained as she gently ushered the children inside.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Thanks Miss Edna." Piper waved the robot away before closing the door. Taking a deep breath, Piper turned around to face the two children.

One of the upsides of Miss Edna's personality, she was unable to dish out punishments for bad behavior, so such things were always left to the parents. Nat had been a bit of a problem student, but was usually fine unless someone pushed her.

"Okay you two, talk. What happened?" Nathaniel stood before the kids whom had taken seats on the couch Piper and Nathaniel vacated minutes before.

"I sort of... punched someone." Shaun started, eyes looking everywhere but at his father.

"Might I ask why?" Nathaniel motioned for the boy to continue.

While this was going on, Piper noticed Nat kept stealing glances at Shaun out of the corner of her eye. Piper knew that look, Nat was trying to look like she was angry but she really wasn't.

"Pete said Nat was ugly." Shaun seemed to have found some courage in that moment because he finally looked his father in the eye. "I couldn't just let him say that to my sister! And no, I'm not sorry."

Piper couldn't help but smile at that. That voice sounded so much like Nathaniel it was scary. A small part of Piper wondered if she should tell Shaun that Nat would be his aunt if Piper was his mom but she decided against it.

Time for Piper to bring her sister into this family discussion. "Nat? Anything you'd like to add?"

"I could have taken care of him. He," Nat pointed at Shaun, "socked him before I could." Nat replied, still looking away with her mock anger.

"Yeah I know could've but that doesn't mean you should have to." Shaun answered before both Piper and Nathaniel could. Piper didn't expect him to say that, it made him sound wiser beyond his years. Then again, Shaun was a synth so there was no telling just how smart he actually was.

Nat finally looked back over at the boy and let out a sigh. "Okay fine. Come on." She grabbed Shaun by the wrist and pulled him out of the house. "You can help me sell papers."

The two kids were gone before anyone could get another word in. Piper just watched them go. "Huh. I wonder if they're actually selling papers, or if that was code for chaos."

"Eh, who knows. We probably should discipline him somehow." Nathaniel scratched his chin. "But I don't think I'm going to. You?"

"Nah." Piper waved a hand dismissively. "He stood up for family, not going to punish him for that." After the words passed her lips, Piper realized what Nathaniel said. Shaun was his son, Nathaniel was essentially saying Piper was the boy's mom without actually speaking the words.

It took longer than Piper expected for Nathaniel to sneak up behind her to snake his arms around her waist. She leaned back into the hold without hesitation.

Piper may not have thought much about being a mother before this, but somehow she knew this was at least partially what it was like to have children. And it was something Piper felt she could get used to.

Nathaniel planted a soft kiss to the crown of her head. "The kids will be out for a while, want to get back to relaxing?"

"Hell yes."

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 **Is it just me, or are there not very many Piper/MSS stories on here? Anyway, let me know what you think.**


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